ZIMBABWE: President Robert Mugabe enrols members of "worst ever cabinet" to join a unity government

Record ID: 784743

  • Title: ZIMBABWE: President Robert Mugabe enrols members of "worst ever cabinet" to join a unity government
  • Date: 14th February 2009
  • Summary: HARARE, ZIMBABWE (FEBRUARY 13, 2009) (REUTERS) ZIMBABWE CABINET MINISTERS WAITING TO BE SWORN IN VARIOUS OF MINISTERS TAKING OATH OF OFFICE FINANCE MINISTER TENDAI BITI SIGNING FINANCE MINISTER GETTING CONGRATULATED BY PRESIDENT ROBERT MUGABE Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has appointed party loyalists
  • Embargoed: 1st March 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Zimbabwe
  • Country: Zimbabwe
  • Reuters ID: LVA9QZBOTSHRO9H0NTS0GECNCM4F
  • Story Text: Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has appointed party loyalists from a previous cabinet he described as the "worst in history" to a unity government with Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC.
    Cabinet members from both parties were sworn in on Friday (February 13) and will need to bury years of animosity to rebuild the southern African country's shattered economy, which is struggling with the world's highest inflation rate.
    Mugabe and Tsvangirai agreed a power-sharing deal last September, but it stalled for months as they haggled over allocation of cabinet posts, stirring doubts over whether the old foes can work together to bring in aid and investment.
    They reached an agreement on implementation under pressure from regional leaders at the end of last month and Tsvangirai was sworn in as prime minister on Wednesday.
    A list of cabinet members released by Mugabe's officials late on Thursday includes former defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi, former state security boss Didymus Mutasa and Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has been touted a potential successor to the veteran 84-year-old leader.
    Some of the ZANU-PF members who will serve in the new cabinet have held ministerial posts since independence in 1980, when Mugabe assumed power.
    ZANU-PF will have 15 members in the cabinet, Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) 14, and a splinter MDC group will hold three posts.
    Tsvangirai, who took office on Thursday, has nominated party secretary general Tendai Biti to the post of finance minister tasked with reviving the economy.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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